Numb3rs – Disarmed

Disclaimer – I don't own them, I just borrowed them. Numb3rs and its characters are the property of those that created them. No copyright infringement intended. No financial reward gained. All real organisations are used in a fictional sense. Original characters and the storyline are mine however.

CHAPTER TEN

The cavalry arrives...

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Fortunately it was still a short time before the evening peak hour started so the teams of agents requested by Megan were able to make good time through the relatively light LA traffic. Lights and sirens helped but they were switched off a few blocks away. FBI SWAT arrived about five minutes later. They all convened at a nearby parking lot out of the possible line of sight from the building.

Megan had left David with the LAPD surveillance unit keeping the building under observation. David had taken up a position in their vehicle on El Dorado whilst the LAPD surveillance team split up to cover the other angles with their vehicle on Los Robles. Not ideal using only three officers to watch a four sided structure but it would have to do for now. The exit to the garage was a primary point being watched by David so they should know if Don's SUV left. The LAPD officers could see the pedestrian entrance. Megan had left orders that any vehicle that left the garage was to be identified and intercepted away from the building by the LAPD units holding nearby. If Don's SUV left then it was to be stopped as a matter of urgency using whatever force was required. The situation would not go mobile again. Another call to Markham and he was able to confirm that he had enough units in place to totally lock down the area within a minute if necessary.

"Earlier this afternoon Professor Charles Eppes, Charlie, armed himself with a semi-automatic pistol and took a group of people hostage at CalSci. He demanded to see Agent Don Eppes." Megan began her briefing. She saw the recognition amongst her audience at the names and the shock of what Charlie had done. "Charlie then released his hostages but held Agent Eppes. Charlie then demanded and got transport and free passage from CalSci. At about 1600hrs he and Don drove into the garage of that building." She pointed at the new high rise office tower, the upper edge of which was just visible from their position.

"We have some suspicions and a lot of unknowns here." Megan continued. "What we suspect is that their father Alan Eppes has been taken by an unknown male earlier today and is being held hostage to ensure Charlie's cooperation. We have a communication from Agent Eppes supporting this scenario and a witness that saw Alan Eppes leaving his home this morning with the unknown male. We have been unable to locate him since. We don't know how many offenders we are dealing with nor where they are located in the building. We also don't know what their agenda is."

"Are you sure that this isn't just a math professor gone postal?" One of the SWAT team asked. They all knew who Charlie was and that this behaviour was way out of character, but as professionals involved in law enforcement they all knew that people did act out of character occasionally and sometimes that resulted in these types of scenarios.

"We can't guarantee it." Megan admitted. "But we have had communication with Don which indicates otherwise. I know he is being held at gunpoint but I know Don and he would never have passed on the message that he did nor would he have followed Charlie's orders this far unless what he said was true." There was obvious agreement at that. Don was something of a legend around the office and they all knew that he would have put up resistance, violently if necessary, rather than allow the situation to go mobile against every rule in the book unless there was more to it than what met the eye.

"Or he believed it to be true." The same SWAT agent commented. It seemed he was determined to play Devil's Advocate. It was an important role. They had to be prepared for every eventuality, including one where they would have to take down a friend to save an agent.

"There is that." Megan prayed that she was right and that it wouldn't come to them having to take out Charlie. But she had to admit the possibility. Although the evidence and her instincts pointed towards the scenario she'd outlined Megan allowed that using Occam's Razor it was just as probable, if not more so, for the SWAT agent to be correct. Bearing that in mind Megan summed up. "At the very least we have one agent in there being held against his will. I firmly believe however that there are actually three hostages. We will only be able to assess that after we've gone in so be prepared for either case."

"What about negotiation?"

"We've had no contact from Charlie since they left CalSci. He's not answering his cell neither is Alan Eppes. We tried Don's and LAPD advised that they located his cell at CalSci. We have a name of the possible offender, Luke, but no other details. We have no way of contacting them at this time. Unless something changes we have no option but to go tactical." A less than ideal situation but going tactical never was. "Do you have the blueprints?"

"Right here." Another SWAT agent held up a long tube. After September 11 all plans for major buildings had to be supplied to local FBI Field Offices to be held in the event of a terrorist related incident. They could also be used for situations such as this.

The SWAT agents had the blueprints unrolled and spread out on the concrete a few moments later. With booted feet holding down the corners of the large scale blueprint the agents gathered around and reviewed their options. Luck was with them, with the exception of the top two floors, all levels in the building were identical in layout. That meant that despite not knowing which floor Don and Charlie were on they could design plans of attack to suit the two different layouts.

Access was simple enough, whilst using the elevators was out there were two flights of stairs. The flights were located at each end of the floors giving them two points of entry. That just left the problem of identifying the correct floor. They could hardly go bursting out onto each level and conduct a search as that would eliminate any element of surprise allowing the hostages to be killed before they could be saved. No they would have to work out a way to check the floors covertly so they knew which one to raid.

Colby grabbed a red baseball cap from a locker in the back of the SWAT truck and put it backwards onto his head. "Pizza delivery." He announced in a cheerful, but obviously forced, tone as he held up an imaginary pizza box. "Tried and true."

Megan agreed. Colby could ride up in the lift, stopping at each floor and checking it out under the guise of delivering a pizza order. He would then radio in once he'd found them. "Let's set it up. Get ready to roll."

Colby dug further into the locker. It contained a number of quick disguises designed for just this application, including a US Postal Service uniform. It was a bit late in the day for mail delivery so pizza man was the way to go. He located a jacket from one of LA's many pizza delivery outfits and slipped it on. Fortunately he was already wearing jeans and running shoes today so the outfit was complete. He slipped his badge off his belt and into a pocket and checked that the jacket obscured his gun from casual sight. He slipped an earwig into his right ear and the receiver tuned to their current frequency onto the back of his belt. Checking that his digital radio was on and working he turned the speaker volume off. He would hear any calls via the earwig. A normal earpiece and radio would be too obvious, as would be a Kevlar vest. Grabbing a couple of empty cardboard boxes he was set to go.

SWAT meanwhile were strapping on their vests and extra weapons, checking loads and spare magazines. Communications were set up and also checked. The other teams of agents likewise readied themselves.

Megan made a quick call to Merrick giving him a quick run down on their plan and that they were about to move.

Now they just needed a distraction and this was where Markham was able to provide further assistance. Megan called him and arranged for two black-and-whites to do a speed run under full lights and sirens down Los Robles to distract the attention of anyone looking for the police. A third black-and-white would follow a few seconds later as additional reinforcement to the distraction. This would allow the vehicles containing the FBI agents to drive into the garage under the office building from El Dorado, hopefully undetected. The rapid entry of three vehicles would cause far less attention than if fifteen or so agents in full kit were to run down the sidewalk and into the garage. That could not fail to cause a stir that would alert the real HT.

They jumped into the vehicles and pulled to the edge of the parking lot. The two ambulances that had rolled up a few minutes before, called automatically whenever a SWAT unit entered the field, were to hold position. Less than thirty seconds later the first two black-and-whites made their way down Los Robles. The three FBI vehicles raced out onto the street and along the short distance to the entrance to the underground garage. As they turned in the third LAPD unit made it's run, bulldozing its way through traffic that had started to fill in after the first two units. Horns blared as vehicles took evasive action. The distraction was all that they had hoped for.

A moment or so later they were joined by David in the black sedan. They pulled to a stop near the elevators. Megan immediately went to the familiar black SUV opening the driver's door and checking the interior whilst another agent checked the back. Colby provided the last agent from their team with a catch up briefing as David opened the trunk and pulled out his own vest, strapping it on with his partner's assistance. The other agents fanned out heading towards their assigned positions at the two stairwells. Two agents remained with the vehicles on the off chance that their quarry might double back.

"It's Don's." Megan confirmed unnecessarily, they had all recognised the tags. "No one in it."

"And no one has left the building." David reported.

"Good." She gave orders to the two waiting agents to disable Don's SUV and the other one parked next to it. During that time David set up his radio and checked his weapon. "All set?" Megan asked after one last check of the two teams. David was at a disadvantage not having seen the blueprints but there was no time for him to see them now. She assigned him to the other team, but not as it's leader due to that lack of knowledge. One of the SWAT agents took that role. She knew that he would understand just as he would know she wanted someone intimately familiar with Charlie to be on each team. She took the lead position on hers and nodded to Colby. Show time.

11-1111-1100-10-11001-

Colby pressed the call button on the elevator, noting that it came down from the fourth floor. If David was right and no one had left via the garage that made it likely it was still on the floor Charlie had taken Don. Colby held up four fingers to indicate the likely floor. Megan nodded in reply and at her command the two teams entered the stairwells heading up. Colby entered the waiting elevator. He would pay special attention to the fourth floor but would have to clear each other floor on the way up.

The elevator chimed on the first floor. Colby raised his 'pizzas' and stepped out confidently. He glanced around at the glassed in foyer, recognising the layout from the blue prints. The place had that deserted feeling, something cops learned to pick up after a few years with just a glance. He went through the motions however, quickly checking each door to find them all locked. There were no sounds of movement confirming his instant assessment. It had taken less than a minute. He raised his radio as he pressed the elevator call button again. "Clear. Going up."

The doors opened and he stepped back into the waiting car. He repeated his actions on the second and third floors. Finally: "Clear. Going up to four. Ready?"

"Ready." Megan's terse reply came via his earpiece.

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A/N: We have now caught up to present time, the cavalry is in place. Next chapter tomorrow.